I am somewhat of a newbie myself but I will give you my experience. First, I started building the D&E gun about 1 1/2 years ago and have completed the carriage and have about 60% of the actual gun done. I have purchased the plans for and will build the RGG when I am finished with the D&E. I think the RGG is a better design and a more workable gun.
I started with a little Craftsman’s 102 (toy, don’t even think of buying one) and then purchased an Atlas 6" lathe (frustrating) before buying a South Bend 10L. I now have a complete set of 5C collets to include round, square, and hex. It really is a joy to use the 10L. The larger spindle thru hole and the 5C collets are very handy. If you are patient and selective you can find good ones at reasonable prices especially now with the economy in the dumps.
In addition, I have three mills, a Hardinge TM, a Deckel FP1 and a RungFu round column mill. Actually I like the RungFu mill. The round column can be very frustrating if you don't plan ahead. The TM is a nice small mill but lacks head space. The FP1 is very hard to find tooling and/or parts for and I think very pricey. I recently put an Easson DRO on the RungFu and it is very nice to use and I only have $1600 in the total outfit. Of course, it doesn't matter what you pay for the basic machine you will spend a lot for tooling and accessories.
You will need a good grinder to grind lathe bits. Learning how to do that will make using the lathe a whole lot easier. I don't sharpen endmills, wish I could, so I am very careful with feeds, speeds and coolant to maximize their life.
You will also need a good rotary table. I picked up a like new Troyke 9" last year at the Cabin Fever show which I am very happy with.
I am sure many will disagree with this but it is based on my experience. One nice thing about tools is that if you buy smart and then decide you want to move up you can always sell what you have and generally get your money back or even make a little profit. Hope it helps.
Dennis
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